


Light at the End of the Tunnel

by amoleofmonsters



Series: Sheith Month 2018 Fics [23]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Burns, M/M, Sheith Month 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoleofmonsters/pseuds/amoleofmonsters
Summary: Black Lion is the hero Keith aspires to be. Shiro is the man Keith wants by his side.aka the My Hero Academia AU no one asked for.--For Sheith Month 2018. Day 31: Hero





	Light at the End of the Tunnel

**Author's Note:**

> I still have Day 28 to write, which is a chapter for A King and His Castle and should be up by the end of the week the absolute latest, but otherwise I'm finally done with Sheith Month a week after it ended! The second I saw the Hero prompt, I knew I was writing a HeroAca AU. Hopefully, you guys have enjoyed reading these fics as much as I've liked writing them!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr at sharkrinsoup.tumblr.com!

Keith is coming back from the gym, work out bag hanging off of his shoulder, when he notices practically everyone from his floor gathered in front of the TV. Normally, he ignores his classmates’ antics, but someone screams, “I’m so excited to see who the newcomers are!” and Keith sprints into the room before he can stop himself. 

On the screen, the new up and coming heroes stand on a stage. The first one to be introduced is a white haired woman in white body suite and a crown. “Our first hero is The Teleportation Hero: Princess Allura, who at nineteen is already making quite a name for herself!” shouts the announcer. The woman in question demonstrates her quirk by quickly disappearing and reappearing across the stage before returning to her spot. After Princess Allura, each of the heroes shows off their quirks as their name is announced. They all begin to blur together for Keith, but many of his classmates still cheer and gasp in awe at each one. 

Keith is about to leave for his room when the camera zeroes in on one particularly handsome hero. He stands there in black and white armor, Boy Scout grin on his face and hands on his hips. “This is the new arrival from Japan, Takashi Shirogane,” says the announcer, butchering the name straight to hell. “Known as Black Lion, he’s decided to make a name for himself here in the states!” 

An assistant brings out a cart with a large pile of wooden boards on it and Keith watches, jaw dropping, as Black Lion smashes through all of the boards effortlessly. He then turns towards the camera with a proud grin and says, “I’m excited to be making my American debut! Please be kind to me!” in flawless English. Keith’s heart is pounding in his chest. 

After that, Keith doesn’t think much about Black Lion. Even if he wants to, he’s busy with classes and his internship. He keeps track of who’s who in the hero world, but most of his research is focused on those with quirks similar to his own, and his thoughts of Black Lion fall to the wayside. It isn’t until the training camp the summer before Keith’s senior year that the rising hero has any significance to him. 

As the class steps off the bus in a small, seaside town, it’s none other than Black Lion who is waiting for them. The class gasps and whispers among each other as their teacher, Iverson, says, “Everyone, this is Mr. Shirogane. Many of you know him better as Black Lion. He’s going to be assisting me with the training camp, and I expect you all to be on your best behavior.” 

“Hi, everyone!” says Black Lion with a wave. “Feel free to call me Shiro. Now, follow me down to the beach for our first training session.” 

Every morning, Shiro makes them run along the sand with weights on their backs. It’s grueling and by the end, Keith feels sore from head to toe. After the morning warm up, they are given a training exercise that focuses on their quirks. On the first day, Shiro has them face off against each other so that he can get a sense of what each of them can do. Keith is set up against a boy named James with a speed-based quirk. As they fight, Keith hears Iverson say to Shiro, “So I’ve been teaching at the Garrison Academy for a while and you seem familiar. Did you ever happen to go here?” 

“Yes, actually. I went here for my first year before transferring to a hero school in Japan.”

“That definitely couldn’t have been that long ago. How old are you?” 

“Twenty-one.” 

Iverson whistles. “The new top heroes keep getting younger and younger.” 

Keith manages to win his fight against James easily, the other boy running straight into the water when Keith accidentally lights his hair on fire. Keith grins and goes to sit down. He notices Shiro watching him with an expression he can’t entirely place. When training ends for the day, Iverson dismisses the class to go fight over sleeping space in the guesthouse. Shiro drops his hand onto Keith’s shoulder and says, “Keith, right?” Keith nods. “I’m impressed by what you can do with your quirk.” 

Keith blushes. “Thank you, sir.” 

“My hero agency, Voltron Heroics, is going to be recruiting in the spring. If you do what you just did on our recruitment day, you’d likely have a shot at one of our spots.” 

Keith’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t even considering applying for your agency because I know how brutal the recruitment process is.”

“Just think about it, okay? You would be an amazing addition to the team.” 

Shiro’s words stick with Keith. He pushes himself as hard as he can through the training camp. The entire time, he can tell that Shiro is watching him like a hawk and it sends a warm thrill through his body. When the semester starts, all Keith can think about is the upcoming hero agency applications he’s going to have to churn out. By December, Keith has a long list of hero agencies he wants to apply for, Voltron Heroics at the top. In the spring, he spends the better part of February in interviews. In some, he just has to demonstrate his quirk. In orders, it’s a battle royal against all of the other applications. Regardless of the structure, they’re all exhausting.

It’s the middle of March when Keith gets an email from Voltron Heroics. He has to read the email multiple times to make sure he’s not hallucinating, but the words are clear as day. “Dear Mr. Keith Kogane, Congratulations! You have been officially invited to join Voltron Heroics as a full time hero starting June 5th.” Keith has to resist the urge to scream in happiness. 

Keith’s last semester is a blur as he itches for graduation. The week before his ceremony, he picks up the keys to his new apartment and slowly begins moving in. Everyone is tearing up during graduation and saying how much they will all miss each other, but Keith couldn’t care less. He walks out of Garrison Hero High School for the last time, his diploma sticking out of his bag. 

The first day he’s to show up to Voltron Heroics, he finds himself there with three other newbies. He doesn’t recognize any of them, but the boy in the blue and white outfit clearly recognizes him. “Hey, you’re Keith, right? I’m Lance. We fought each other way back during our provisional heroics license exam sophomore year!”

Keith looks at him in confusion and says, “Yeah, I’m Keith, but I don’t remember you.” 

Lance stares at him in shock and is about to scream something at him when Shiro walks into the room. Unlike the last time Keith had seen him, he’s not wearing his hero armor. Instead, he’s wearing a leather jacket and jeans. His bangs have been dyed white and there’s a harsh scar on the bridge of his nose that Keith doesn’t remember from the summer training camp. “Hey, glad you all decided to join us! Let me show you around the office.” 

Keith quickly discovers that Shiro is kind, much kinder than when they’d first met. No longer in the role of a teacher, he’s more relaxed and patient. He smiles at Keith as he settles into his new desk and says, “Hey, I like your new hero name. Fire Phoenix, very cool.” 

Keith blushes. “You don’t think it’s too on the nose, do you?” 

“Nah. Definitely better than your last one.” 

“My last hero name was just my name?” 

Shiro shrugs. “It’s definitely more heroic.” 

Every day at lunchtime, Shiro invites Keith to come with him. At first, Princess Allura accompanies them, but as time goes on, she ends up far too busy to leave the office during lunch. Keith begins to look forward to spending his free hour with Shiro. He knows he shouldn’t get emotionally attached, but for the first time in his life, someone actually cares about him. If a warm, fluttery feeling fills his chest every time they make eye contact, then no one but Keith is the wiser. 

One day towards the tail end of October, there is an emergency call from the other end of town. Shiro and Keith are the only ones in the office. Prior to the phone call, they had been trying to throw popcorn into each other’s open mouths. After the call, Keith throws the bag of popcorn in the trash and they run out the door. 

The villain is unlike anything Keith has ever seen before. He’s a small, unimposing man, but what really throws Keith on his ass is the booming voice in his skull. “Let’s see what newbie Fire Phoenix has in his little head of his.” Before Keith can react, the image of his dead father flashes in his head. He panics and shoots flames at the villain, who jumps back and cackles. “Getting me isn’t going to be that easy, little Phoenix!”

The next image is at the orphanage where the bullies throw dirt on Keith’s head. One kid takes Keith’s favorite stuffed animal, a fat hippopotamus, and sets it on fire. Keith watches and cries, his arms covered in flames. He then sees himself sitting at a desk, rubbing burn ointment on his skin as a man says to the head of the orphanage, “It’s imperative you send this boy to a hero school. He needs to learn how to use his quirk.” 

By this point, Keith is outright panicking. Flames shoot from his hands in all directions and he isn’t thinking straight. All he wants is to hit the villain and get him out of his head. He feels a harsh, burning sensation on his arms and he screams at the top of his lungs. He knows it’s going to hurt him, possibly beyond repair, but he doesn’t care. He shoots even stronger flames and dark spots begin to dance in his eyes. Before he knows it, he drops to the ground and the world goes dark.

When he wakes up, there’s a tube in his nose and everything is white. His arms are entirely covered in bandages, but the harsh pain from earlier is gone. Something clatters to the ground, possibly a chair, and Shiro is appears in front of him. “You’re awake! Oh my god, you’re awake! How are you feeling, Keith?”

“I’m been better. I’ve been worse. What happened?”

Shiro pushes Keith’s bangs out of his face. “The villain got into our heads and you started to scream. I was freaked out, too, so I didn’t think anything of it, but then you collapsed onto the ground and your arms started burning. The villain was distracted long enough for me to punch him out and then I carried you to the hospital.”

Keith scrunches up his face. “Fuck, this wasn’t supposed to happen! I thought I had everything under control.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“I... I don’t want you to think I’m not cut out to be a hero.”

“Keith, I would never think that. I know first hand that anyone who wants to be a hero can be.”

“I mean, that’s easy for you to say. Your quirk doesn’t try to kill you every time you get too emotional.”

Shiro presses his forehead to Keith’s. “I’m sorry. I know it must be hard and I can’t imagine what that feels like, but it doesn’t make you any less of a hero. You’re going to be amazing, Keith. It doesn’t matter what your quirk is so long as your heart’s in the right place. Do you wanna know a secret?”

Keith blushes from how close Shiro is. “What is it?”

“I’m quirkless.”

Keith’s eyes go wide. He’s heard of people being born quirkless, but those people never end up being heroes as far as Keith is aware. “H-how? No, that’s not possible. You have a strength-based quirk. It says that on all your bio pages.”

Shiro shakes his head. “I lied. I started working out when I was ten and thankfully, my body is really good at building muscle and staying strong. When I could, I left for Japan where no one knew I was quirkless with the vow that I would return once I could convince people that I had a quirk after all. But all it means is that if I am cut out to be a hero, then so are you.”

Keith is speechless for a moment. After gathering his thoughts, he says, “Thank you for telling me. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone.”

Shiro lets out a breath and gathers Keith into as much of a hug as he can without hurting him. “Thank you, Keith. And I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you.”

Keith feels a hot flash float across his skin, but he pushes it down. Taking a deep breath, he decides that the best way to tamper his feelings is to face them head on. “Hey, Shiro. Do you wanna get dinner some time? You know, when my arms have skin on them again?”

Shiro grins. ”Yeah, we can get the whole team to celebrate your recovery.”

If Keith wants to end the conversation there, he can, but he needs to be honest with himself and with Shiro. “N-no. I was thinking just the two of us. You know, as a date?” 

“O-oh.” Shiro grins. “I thought you would never ask.”


End file.
